Sicilian San Martino anise cookies, the sammartinelli of Sicilian cuisine that can be eaten soft and freshly baked or put back in the oven up to three times so they dry out and become crunchy. The Sicilian San Martino cookies come from Palermo and are the typical Sicilian dessert of this time of year, alongside San Martino fritters and the traditional November 1st sweets. On St. Martin’s Day, as they say, every must becomes wine and sammartinelli, soft or dry, are the perfect treat to enjoy new wine, together with pot-roasted chestnuts or air-fryer chestnuts. These desserts, rooted in peasant tradition, were prepared to enjoy the new wine, but they are also delicious with passito or malvasia dessert wines. Fragrant with anise and cinnamon, I prefer them just made, still soft; my husband loves them crunchy. Which do you prefer?

Let’s head to the kitchen to discover the San Martino cookie recipe; you’ll see you’ll love them. Before you start, I remind you that if you want to stay updated on all my recipes, you can follow my Facebook page (here) and my Instagram profile (here).!

See these other soft Sicilian cookies:

Difficulty: Very easy
Cost: Very inexpensive
Rest time: 2 Hours 30 Minutes
Preparation time: 30 Minutes
Portions: 25
Cooking methods: Oven
Cuisine: Italian
Seasonality: Autumn

Ingredients

4 cups flour
5 1/2 tbsp lard
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 1/2 tbsp anise seeds
salt
1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast (or 15 g fresh yeast)
7 fl oz warm water (about 3/4 cup + 2 tbsp)

Tools

Baking sheet
Bowl

Steps

I kneaded my sammartinelli using a Thermomix, or rather a similar food processor, but you can easily knead them by hand or with a stand mixer.
If you knead the San Martino cookies with a stand mixer or a Thermomix, just put everything in the bowl and mix until you obtain an elastic, homogeneous dough. With the Thermomix, run two kneading cycles spaced 10 minutes apart.
If you knead by hand, pour the flour into a bowl, add the yeast and a little water, dissolve and mix it, add the sugar, a little more water, mix and finish with the remaining ingredients.
Knead in the bowl for a few minutes, cover with a cloth, let rest for 10 minutes, then turn out onto the work surface and work until you obtain a smooth, elastic, homogeneous dough.
In all three cases, shape a nice loaf and place it to rise in a warm spot until doubled in size.
Divide the risen dough into pieces of about 1.2–1.4 oz (35–40 g) and form ropes about 8 inches (20 cm) long, flatten the ropes and roll them on themselves or around a finger to form little snail shapes.
Place the risen sammartinelli on a baking sheet and leave them in a warm place for 30 minutes to rise until doubled.
Preheat the oven to 356°F (180°C) and bake for 20 minutes in conventional mode or until they reach the desired golden color.
The san Martinelli are ready to be enjoyed while still soft, either on their own or with wine.
If you prefer crunchy sammartinelli, let them dry in the oven for 30 minutes at 266°F (130°C) and repeat the operation every 30 minutes until they become crisp.
Crunchy sammartinelli can be stored in a tin box for several days; soft ones should be eaten the same day because, like all leavened goods, they tend to lose freshness.